Ballot-box



- (N0 Model.)

H. BRAASCH.

BALLOT BOX.

No. 602,798. Patented Apr. 19,1898.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

HENRY BRAASOII, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

BALLOT-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 602,798, dated April 19, 1898.

Application filed April 13, 1896.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY BRAAscH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the count-y of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ballot-Boxes, of which J[he following is a specilication.

My invention relates particularly to those devices which are adapted for casting ballballots in lodges for the purpose of voting upon the admission of members or other questions.

One object of my invention is to produce a ballot-box of this class which will be absolutely and unvaryingly secret in its operation, so that a person standing close beside one casting a ballot will be unable to discern whether a white ball or a black ball is cast, and yet there will be no liability of the person voting making a mistake in the character of the ballot cast by him.

A further object of my invention is to produce a ballot-box of this class which will be compact, simple, easy to manipulate and inspect, and in which each time a vote is cast the box will be moved or jarred, so that in case the balls should stick or lodge in the raceways they will thereby be dislodged and the proper feeding of the balls insured.

lIy invention comprises the features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully set forth, whereby I accomplish these ends.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure l is a side elevation of a ballot-box constructed according to my invention, having one side of the outer casing removed therefrom to expose the arrangement of parts. Fig. 2 is a like view from the other side of the box. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the saine with the front of the outer case removed. Fig. 4 is a plan view of my improved ballot-box.

In the drawings, A represents the case of my improved box, which is open at the top and is provided at the bottom with a drawer A,which is adapted to receive the balls which are cast in voting and which can be removed from the case and its contained balls exhibited to the presiding officer.

B represents a frame which is adapted to Serial No. 587,268. (No model.)

lit loosely within the case and which comprises a cover B',which is adapted to partially close the open top of the case A, a centrallyarranged partition D, depending from the cover, and an end piece O, arranged transverse the partition and,when the frame is in place in the case, to divide the case into two chambers a and a', respectively, one of such chambers, a, being the chamber containing the ball-holding raceways and the other chamber, a', forming an open-topped recess within which is chambered the keys which actuate the ballot-casting devices. Below the keys I arrange a shelf .to conceal the drawer from view and to prevent the entrance of any balls excepting those which pass through the balldropping devices.

Upon one side of the partition D is provided a raceway d for the white balls F. To secure greater capacity within a limited space, this raceway is made of independent oppositelyinclined sections CW, arranged in the same vertical plane and connected with each other by short curves d. At the bottom of this raceway is arranged a slide E, which is provided with a ball pocket or recess e, adapted to :receive and chamber a single ball at a time. This slide reciprocates vertically, and a spring e is arranged to hold the slide in its normallyelevated position. A key c/is secured to the slide and projects into the recess a. On the other side of the partition D is arranged a raceway D', which is adapted to receive the black balls F'. This raceway is not of such great length as the raceway d for the white balls, for the reason that a small number of black balls is ordinarily enough to ldefeat the proposition being voted upon. If it is desired, however, the raceway for the black balls may be arranged similar to the raceway shown for the white balls. The lower end of this raceway is closed by a slide Ff, which is arranged the same as the slide which closes the lower end of the raceway d. This slide is provided with a ball-pocket e and a spring e' and a key e'", which also projects into the recess a.

The key e" is normally higher than the key e", and thereby the device is so arranged that when the person voting inserts his hand into the recess or pocket a to operate the keys the second finger will be naturally brought IOO into position to operate the lower key e, while the first iinger, which is shorter than the second finger, will be brought into position to operate the higher key c. By swinging either finger out of the path of its respective key the other finger is left free to operate its key without any extra movement of the hand to disclose which key has been operated. This insures absolute secrecy, and even though a person is standing` alongside of the person voting he will be unable to discern which key is operated by the voter. By having the hand-receiving recess open at the top the voter is enabled to see the keys. The key e'", which controls the raceway carrying the black balls, is colored black, while the other key e is white.

The ball pocket or recess e of each slide has its bottom E arranged inclined in a direction opposite the inclination of the lower section of the ball-raceways, so that when a key is actuated to carrya slide down Ainto the position shown in dotted lines in Figs. l and 2 the ball will roll out of the pocket and into the drawer.

In order to insure that there shall be no variation in the sound of the alarm-bell, which is sounded whenever a vote is cast, I provide but a single bell G for the box and arrange intermediate means connecting each of the ball-dropping devices with such bell, so that the operation of either slide will sound the hell. To accomplish this, I provide the bellhammer lever G with a transverse arm g, one end of which projects through a slot g/ in the partition D, and I provide the slides E E' with spring-hooks II H', respectively, which are each adapted to engage with its respective end of the transverse arm of the lever and to carry such lever downward until the hook slips off from the arm, when the coiled spring G", which is secured at one end to the partition D and at its other end to the transverse arm g, carries the bell-lever back into its normal position, as shown in Fig. l, and the weight of the bell-hammer carries such hammer down until it strikes against the bell and sounds the alarm. The spring-hooks II II' each carry the bell-lever downward the same distance before the hook slips from its engagement with the transverse bar, so that no matter which slide is actuated the stroke delivered against the bell is the same, and it is impossible for one to discover from the sound of the bell whether a white ball or a black ball has been cast. IVhen the pressure upon the key is removed, the spring e/ carries the slide backinto its normally-elevated position.

In practice the balls are placed in the inachine through the openings I and I', which communicate, respectively, with the raceways d and D. When the balls are in place within the raceways, the frame D is removed from the case A and both sides thereof exhibited to the presiding officer, the transparent walls J of the raceways allowing the officer to observe all the balls in both raceways. The

drawer is also removed from the case and exhibited to the presiding officer. Then the drawer is replaced in the case, after which the frame is placed in the case, as shown in the drawings, and the device is ready for operation. When a member wishes to cast a ballot, he places his right hand in the recess a', and if he wishes to cast a white ballot he operates the key e with his forenger. If he wishes to cast a black ballot, he operates the key 6" with the second finger, the varying height of the keys bringing them into convenient position for this to be done. By standing close to the box and looking down into the recess a the voter can observe the keys and is not liable to make a mistake in easting a ballot. By reason of the frame iitting loosely in the case when a key is actuated to drop a ball the frame tilts, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l, the front end of the cover acting as a fulcrum upon which it swings, so that when the key is released the frame falls back into its normal position, the cover engages with the case, and should any of the balls be lodged in the raceways they are thereby jarred loose, so as to insure proper feeding of the balls to the ball-dropping device.

In order to prevent a voter from accidentally operating both keys at once, I arrange a suitable vibrating dog K, which is pivoted to the end C of the frame D and is adapted to project alternately into notches 7o' 7e', provided in the actuating-slides E E', and to prevent both slides from being pushed down at oncethat is to say, when the slide Eis pushed down, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the dog is swung into the notch 7.; in the slide E', so that such slide is locked against downward movement until the slide E shall have returned to its normal position to thus allow the dog to swing into the notch 7U' when the slide E is depressed.

By reason of the bell giving an alarm whenever a ballot is cast it becomes unnecessary to provide a large number of balls, since when a member votes the fact is disclosed by the bell, and if no black balls are cast it is clear that no one voted adversely. Thus even though the supply of white balls be inadequate to cast the number of ballots required the fact is apparent that no adverse votes have been cast if no black balls appear in the drawer. The bottom of the drawer should be cushioned, so that the ball will make no noise when dropped, and when this is done only one raceway for black balls need be provided and all favorable votes registered solely by the bell.

If desired or found advantageous, the raceways may be formed in the shape of a tube with one side eut away to expose the balls, and I wish it to be understood that I do not limit my invention to any special construction of the raeeways, it only being essential that the balls be exposed to View. The m odifications will, however, be apparent to those IOO IIO

ISO

versed in the art, and illustration thereof is unnecessary herein.

Now, having described my invention,what l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A ballot-box provided with ball-raceways and with ball-droppin g devices arranged to feed one ball at a time from the raceways, the box being adapted and arranged to tilt When the ball-dropping devices are actuated, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A ballot-box comprising a case open at the top; a frame arranged to iit loosely within such case; ball-raceways, ball-dropping devices arranged to feed one ball at a time from the raceways, and an alarm, all carried by such frame, such frame being adapted to tilt Within the case when the ball-dropping devices are actuated to drop a ball, substantially as set forth.

3. A ballot-box provided with a hand-receiving recess open at the top; ballot-recording devices arranged to record favorable and adverse ballots; two keys arranged Within the recess and adapted to actuate the ballot-recording devices, one of such keys being arranged normally higher than the other key in order to adapt the keys for being actuated respectively by iingers of different lengths.

4. A ballotboX comprising a case open at the top; a removable frame arranged to fit within such case; ball-raceways carried by such frame and adapted to expose the balls to view when the frame is removed from the` close the top thereof, and provided with a partition; ball-raceways, one arranged upon each side of said partition, and having their outer sides closed by a transparent cover; reciprocating slides arranged to feed balls, one at a time respectively, from the raceways; keys arranged to actuate the reciprocating slides; springs arranged to return the slides to their normal position; and a suitable alarm arranged to be sounded when either of said slides is operated.

6. A ball-ballot box comprising the combination of the case; the removable frame comprising the cover adapted to partially cover the open top of the case, a partition depending from such cover, and an end depending from such cover transverse the partition and arranged to leave a recess at one end of the case; ball-raceways carried by the frame; ball-dropping devices carried by the frame and adapted to be actuated to discharge one ball at a time from said raceways respectively; keys projecting into the recess and adapted to actuate the ball-dropping devices; and a shelf arranged below the keys, substantially as set forth.

7. In a ball-ballot boX, the combination set forth of the inclined ball-raceway; the vertically-reciprocating slide arranged to close the end of the raceway and provided with the ball-pocket, the lower wall of such pocket being inclined in a direction opposite the inclination of the raceway.

S. A ball-ballot box comprising a case, and a removable frame arranged to be chambered in the case and provided with aball-raceway and a ball-feeding device arranged to feed one ball at a time from such raceway into the case, such raceway being adapted to expose all the balls to view when the frame is removed from the case.

HENRY BRAASCH.

Witnesses:

W. A. ROBERTS, ALFRED I. TowNsEND. 

